


a mother's gift

by hufflebee



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Good Parent Maryse Lightwood, M/M, Mother-Son Relationship, Pride
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 03:16:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15110678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hufflebee/pseuds/hufflebee
Summary: “Do you happen to know why all the rainbows?”“Oh, it’s for pride month,” Luke says, and Maryse’s confusion must be very clear on her face because he laughs, a quiet, deep rumble that tugs at Maryse’s heartstrings more and more each time she hears it. “It’s a month to celebrate the LGBT community in the mundane world. As different as mundanes and Shadowhunters are, being gay isn’t easy in either space, and the mundane world has a long history of hate and discrimination, but also of fighting and progress, and that’s what is celebrated, what people try to remember as they keep fighting.”





	a mother's gift

**Author's Note:**

> so uhm hi? it's been a while nhtdon but life is slowing down a little bit so hopefully, all the fics that have been sitting in my docs will actually get finished soon!
> 
> as always, a big thank you to [my best girl](http://highwarlockofhell.tumblr.com) for betaing, i love you <3
> 
> HAPPY PRIDE MONTH EVERYONE!!!
> 
> [my tumblr](https://www.hufflebee.tumblr.com)

Maryse had always thought she had a decent understanding of mundanes and their world, but now that it’s become her world as well, it seems infinitely more complicated, a thousand questions popping up every single day. But she’s slowly finding her footing, as she always has, and as weeks have gone by, the ache inside her heart has eased more and more.

There are even days now when she is almost glad to not be a Shadowhunter anymore, because her life currently, a quiet, simple one, one she always used to sneer at, has been making her happier than she had ever been. Spending time with Luke, lunches with Izzy, dinners with Alec and Magnus, her children checking in on her just because, them not straightening into a soldier’s stance the minute they see her, but rather stepping forward to embrace her means more than any rune ever has.

Today is one of those days, where she feels light and at peace, confident enough to wear a dress that reveals her arms without her heart sinking at the sight of runeless skin. Of course, the fact that she’s meeting Luke for coffee might also be a contributing factor, but she’s still being careful about entertaining that particular thought. She walks into the cafe and immediately stops at the sight around her. 

The cafe is overflowing with bright colors, various flags hung up on seemingly every bit of free wall space, and all the employees appear to have some sort of rainbow item on them. It’s an unusual look for the usually quiet, neutral colored decor of the cafe, and Maryse is still observing it when she feels a light touch on her shoulder. She jumps just slightly but relaxes when she sees Luke beside her.

“Hi.” “Hi.”

And by the Angel, she feels so young when he looks at her like that, like there is nothing else around them.

“Should we go order?” he asks after a moment, and Maryse only nods, following his lead to the register, and the sight of the menu written out in rainbow colors reminds Maryse of the question she had on her mind before Luke walked in.

“Do you happen to know why all the rainbows?”

“Oh, it’s for pride month,” Luke says, and Maryse’s confusion must be very clear on her face because he laughs, a quiet, deep rumble that tugs at Maryse’s heartstrings more and more each time she hears it. “It’s a month to celebrate the LGBT community in the mundane world. As different as mundanes and Shadowhunters are, being gay isn’t easy in either space, and the mundane world has a long history of hate and discrimination, but also of fighting and progress, and that’s what is celebrated, what people try to remember as they keep fighting.”

Maryse is quiet as Luke orders for both of them, and even as they wait for their drinks, she just keeps looking around the cafe. She can’t help but feel like she should have known about this, like she should have made more of an effort to find out, even if it was just asking Alec, or even Magnus. She knows her relationship with her son has grown into a beautiful thing, and that he’s forgiven her for her missteps, that Magnus has as well, but even so, she feels she has decades of harsh words and cold shoulders to make up for, wants to outweigh all the bad she’s ever done to her children, to those her children love.

She never again wants Alec to feel like her love is not unconditional, that there is anything he could do to make her love him any less, make her less proud of him.

“What more can you tell me about that?” she asks suddenly, and Luke thinks for a moment before speaking.

“I know a bit, but I think Magnus would be your best bet, especially because he was right there for a lot of the big moments,” he says, and right then his name gets called and he picks up their drinks before leading them to their usual table by the window. The rest of their time goes in a similar fashion as all their previous coffee dates, sharing stories and memories, glancing at each other and exchanging soft smiles, and when they part ways, Luke presses a kiss to her cheek, and Maryse can’t keep the smile off her face the entire walk home.  

* * *

It’s almost a week later that Maryse is walking into the Institute with a small box in her hands. It arrived that morning, and she had felt too restless and excited to wait until the dinner she had planned with Alec to give it to him. She ignores the looks she still gets from some of the older Shadowhunters here as she makes her way to Alec’s office. The door is ajar, but she still knocks lightly before pushing it open. Alec is sitting at his desk, frowning over some paperwork, but he smiles when he lifts up his gaze to her.

“Mom, hi,” he says, getting up and giving her a brief hug. “Everything alright?”

“Yes, don’t worry,” she says. “I just wanted to come by and give you something.”

She hands him the small box, watching as his face shifts. Confusion when he takes it, curiosity as he opens it, and then an expression Maryse can’t quite decipher as he looks inside the box. Luke had assured her Alec would love the gift, as did Magnus when she saw him a few days ago, especially after he told her Alec would know what it means, but as the silence stretches on, Maryse grows worried she may have overstepped, done something wrong. But then, slowly, Alec takes out the small rainbow flag from the box, flips it over a few times before lifting his gaze to Maryse.

_ Oh _ .

She has never seen Alec look quite this open, this  _ young _ , not even when he was a child, and all Maryse can think to do is to hug him. He returns the embrace immediately, hugging her tightly, taking deep breaths almost as if he’s trying to stop himself from crying, so she just holds him, not wanting to be the one to pull away first. Alec does step back after a little while, eyes still glassy, and he looks back at the rainbow flag with a small smile.

“Thank you,” he says, voice quiet and soft, and she knows without a shadow of a doubt that Luke was right in encouraging her to do this. He walks over to his desk, putting the flag in the pen holder right next to a picture of him and Magnus. “How did you even find out about this?”

“Luke told me, and then Magnus filled in the blanks.”

Alec’s eyebrows shoot up at the mention of Magnus’s name, and then he smiles, the smile even Maryse has come to know as his Magnus smile. He bites his lip, as if debating something and then turns to her fully before speaking.

“Did either of them happen to mention what a pride parade is?”


End file.
